MAV importation of 805,000 MT of rice set in June

If the supply of rice in the Philippines has been on a downtrend in the past months, this scenario will completely change starting June as the country anticipates the arrival of imported rice done through a series of importation.

For instance, the bidding for the importation of 805,000 metric tons (MT) of rice under the Minimum Access Volume (MAV) scheme of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is scheduled in two weeks’ time.

This will be on top of the importation of 500,000 MT of rice through a government-to-government and governmentto-private bidding that just recently took place, according to the National Food Authority (NFA).

The first tranche of imported rice from Thailand and Vietnam should start arriving this week until June 15, 2018, while the imported volume under open tender scheme is expected to arrive not later than July 31 for the first 200,000 MT and not later than August 31 for the remaining 50,000 MT, said NFA sources.

All of this, while the overall output for the country's palay production is expected to slightly improve in the first half of the year.

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that palay production for January to June 2018 may reach 8.67 million MT, 1.20 percent higher than the 8.57 million MT output in 2017.

Slapped with a lower tariff, MAV refers to the volume of commodities that is allowed to be imported by a member country as a commitment to WTO.

Rice importation under this new program is pursuant to Republic Act No. 8178, or an act replacing quantitative import restrictions (QR) on agriculture products, except rice, with tariffs.

To compensate for the expiration of QR, the Philippine government unilaterally extended the MAV commitments of 805,200 MT and corresponding tariff concessions to maintain special treatment through Executive Order No. 23 (EO 23).

The MAV and tariff concessions will remain in place until December 31, 2020 or until an amendment to the Agricultural Tariffication Act, which exempts rice from tariff is passed.

Based on the recent guidelines released by the National Food Authority (NFA), private traders can soon import as much as 805,000 MT of white rice under MAV.

The auction has been scheduled on June 14.

All rice to be imported under this scheme shall be levied with 35 percent tariff to be paid in advance with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Based on the guidelines, shipment of rice imports will be divided into two phases — first of which should arrive in the country from July 1, 2018 until August 31, 2018, while the last shipment should be here by December 20, 2018 until February 28, 2019.

Rice traders are allowed to source from countries with a specific quota and from omnibus origin, or other riceproducing countries.

Under the MAV Country Specific Quota (MAV-CSQ), traders may import 50,000 MT from China; 50,000 MT from India; 50,000 MT from Pakistan; 15,000 MT from Australia; 4,000 MT from El Salvador; 293,100 MT from Thailand, and 293,100 from Vietnam.